Bridget's Beau Page 4

  She nodded. “Better without adulteration. Why would you put ranch on something that’s already delicious?”

  “Because it’s here, and I like to dip!”

  “Well, break the habit, man! Try the real thing. I promise it’s delicious!”

  He shook his head at her bossiness, but picked up another cheese curd and bit into it without the ranch. It burned his tongue a bit, but she was right. “It is better.”

  “Told you.” She picked up her taco burger and bit into it, a small piece of taco meat sliding out. “That’s pretty good too.”

  He eyed his burger. He usually just got a sandwich, but he’d wanted to be adventurous after hearing her order. “You sure? It won’t poison me?”

  “If you didn’t want to try it, why did you order it?”

  He shrugged, feeling a bit stupid. “Seemed like a good idea at the time.”

  “You ordered it, now you have to eat it.” She gave him a look, making it clear he wasn’t going to get out of trying at least one bite.

  He picked up the burger and bit into it warily. “Hey, this isn’t too bad.”

  She rolled her eyes. “I don’t understand, but I’m not going to say anything else.”

  He took a sip of his water. “You never answered my question earlier. Are you still up for a trip into the mountains?”

  “Do we have time? It’s already after two…”

  He sighed. “Probably not. Sun sets around 4:30.”

  “Then we’ll do it another time.”

  “Tomorrow?”

  She grinned. “Sure. Why not? We should find a place to watch movies too. I think someone needs a little Cindy and Belle in his life.”

  “You’re going to make me watch kids’ movies?”

  “They’re not kids’ movies! They’re Disney princess movies. That’s like saying that Star Trek is a sci-fi show, when it changed a whole generation of television viewers!”

  He didn’t want her to get started on Star Trek. He was a huge fan, but she didn’t need to know that. Not yet anyway. Her obsession with Disney princesses was kind of scary. He was waiting for her to spout that nonsense about Princess Leia from Star Wars being a Disney princess now, and he would go toe to toe with her on that one. He didn’t much care about which princess was best out of Cinderella or Belle, though. “I guess we can do that. There’s a library in the main house for guests with a whole selection of movies. I think most are family friendly.”

  “When will we do that then?”

  He shrugged. “When do you want to do it? We could also watch a movie on the television in your guest cabin, but the only one that has the streaming functionality is the one in the living room, and I’m not sure how I feel about dating with your parents watching.” He’d spent a week in the cabin when he’d first gotten to the ranch, so it was very familiar to him.

  Bridget cocked her head to one side, studying Kevin. “Are we dating then?”

  “I don’t know what else to call it. A stupendously tame wild vacation fling?”

  “Why stupendously tame?”

  “Because just wild would imply all kinds of sexual shenanigans, and as a pastor, I don’t do that before marriage. So it’ll have to be stupendously tame instead of wild.”

  She sighed. “I guess we can do the stupendously tame thing then. I might demand a kiss or two.”

  “Kisses will be expected.” Kevin winked at her as he ate another bite of his burger.

  Once they were finished, he quickly paid and they left the restaurant, walking in the direction of her cabin. “Do you want to watch something in the main house?”

  She shrugged. “Sounds good. We could do Disney tonight and horror flicks tomorrow night. Both ends of the spectrum.”

  “You’re on.” He frowned, thinking about the best way to do it. “Do you need to check in with your parents?”

  She sighed. “I should. I’ve been on my own for five years, but I still need to check in with Mom and Dad before I go on a date on my vacation. It just made sense for me to share a place with them and not pay for my own!”

  “I’ll come back around seven then. I’ll bring a pizza and some popcorn. We’ll watch movies, and you can tell me why you’re so sure that Cindy is better than Belle.”

  She put her hand on the doorknob, but he stopped her, leaning down to gently kiss her cheek.

  “I’ll be back in a few hours.” Kevin turned and walked away, and she stared after him. His bottom looked good in his tight jeans. Was it okay for a girl to notice a pastor’s butt? She didn’t know, and at the moment she just didn’t care. If it was wrong, then she didn’t care about doing the right thing. How could she with a butt like that?

  She went in and sat down on the couch, where her parents were talking. “What did you guys do today?” They’d been gone before she woke up, and she realized she had no idea at all where they’d been.

  Her dad smiled. “We rented a boat and went out on the lake. Caught some trout, but I threw them back. Your mother said she wasn’t spending her whole evening cleaning and cooking fish when there was a perfectly good restaurant here on the ranch.”

  Bridget wasn’t surprised. Her mother had never been overly fond of cooking. “Sounds good to me. So you guys are going to the restaurant?”

  Her mother frowned. “I thought we’d all go together.”

  “Kevin and I are going to watch Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast. He needs to choose.”

  “You’re not dragging him into that silly argument you used to have with your sister, are you? Nobody cares who the better princess is!”

  “I do. Kaya does. Jenni does. Kelsi does. Miranda does.”

  Her mother frowned at her. “Who on earth is Miranda?” She’d met Jenni and Kelsi, but Miranda was a new name.

  “She runs the bakery in the Old West town. Her baked goods look wonderful. I’m going to get two desserts from there every day.” Bridget frowned, realizing Kevin had absconded with their desserts. He’d better remember to bring them to the movie!

  “You and your sweet tooth. All right. You have fun watching your movie.”

  “I’m going to get my nap.” Bridget stood and yawned widely. Her one complaint about being a nurse was there were no nap times. She’d seriously considered moving somewhere they had mandatory naps in the middle of the day. Naps weren’t just for babies! They were for everyone, and should be embraced by the general populace.

  “Sleep well,” her father said.

  As Bridget walked away, she could hear her parents whispering, but she didn’t care. They could talk about her all day. She was going to have a wonderful evening with a good man. What else mattered?

  She quickly changed into her pajamas and crawled between the sheets, yawning widely. She was excited about seeing Kevin again, but even more excited about napping first. She would never understand children. Didn’t they understand that naps were a gift from God?

  The last thing on her mind as she drifted off was the confusion on Kevin’s face when she’d brought up the princesses to first Miranda and then Kelsi. Eventually he’d understand the way her mind worked, and when he did, he’d either propose on the spot or run screaming into the night. There could be no in between.

  She smiled. Yessirree, Kevin was in for the ride of his life.

  Kevin let himself into his small apartment in Riston, locking the door behind him. He wasn’t sure why he was locking doors, except that he’d gotten into the habit when he’d gone to seminary. His school hadn’t been in the safest area of town.

  He sank into a chair and stared bemusedly at the wall. Bridget was something else. He wasn’t sure if he should get far, far away, or just embrace her silliness. Either way, he was very intrigued, and all he could think about was getting to know her better.

  He’d never met anyone quite like her, and he was certain he wouldn’t again. The woman was nothing if not original. He would continue to pursue a relationship with her, because he couldn’t seem to help himself. Not since he was in high school and had hormones coming out his nose and ears had he felt so much for one small woman. Surely if he felt that much, they were meant to be together. If not, how could God have put her in his path?

  He sighed contentedly. He’d found the woman God meant for him to marry. Now he just had to convince her she was that woman. It couldn’t be too hard, could it? She seemed like the perfect bride for a too-serious pastor.

  Chapter Four

  Bridget was waiting when Kevin arrived. Her parents were already gone, having decided to go to the restaurant and eat and do some dancing. When she’d been a teenager, her parents had always embarrassed her with their constant dancing. In the living room, at wedding receptions, anywhere there was a dancefloor, they were dancing together, and it wasn’t just slow dances. Oh, they did their share of dancing cheek to cheek, but more often than not, Dad was spinning Mom around like she was a top. It was crazy. Cute, but crazy. They were in their forties. What if one of them broke a hip?

  She locked the cabin and followed him out to his car, a rusty old pile of bolts. She didn’t care. She’d never judged a man by his car.

  He drove them the short distance across the ranch to the main house in silence. When they’d arrived, she looked at him in surprise. She’d thought this was the main house, but it was close enough she’d figured she was wrong. Why had they driven?

  “Why didn’t we walk?”

  He shrugged. “It’s a lot colder at night, and I didn’t want you to get too chilly. You’re not used to the cold night air yet.”

  “And you are? You said you were raised in Texas.” Surely he was no more used to the cold of Idaho than she was. Their Texas blood was too thin for the extreme colds of the north.

  “I was, but I went to seminary in Wyoming. I’ve been in the north for long enough to be used to the weather here.”

  He reached into the back seat and pulled out a pizza bag—the kind a pizza delivery person carries. “Where’d you get that?”

  “On eBay, of course. There’s nowhere else that you could buy one. We had lots of pizza nights at seminary, and someone always had to go and pick up the pizzas, because it saved us a couple of bucks, and we were all perpetually broke. I got sick of cold pizzas, and I found this for five bucks on eBay. That was all she wrote.”

  Bridget shook her head, laughing. “I shouldn’t be surprised, but somehow, I am.”

  “You were never a broke college student?”

  “I definitely was, but I never thought of buying a pizza bag off eBay. I went to school in a big city, though, and we usually walked to the nearest pizza place. Or had pizza on campus.”

  He grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the front door of the house. “I hope no one’s using the library, because I can’t get my Disney princess on if I have to watch Die Hard or something manly like that.”

  “Die Hard? Really?”

  He shrugged. “That’s what my friends liked. I never really was a fan, but I’ve got it memorized anyway.”

  “You need some Disney princesses, then. Very badly.”

  He pushed open the door of the library, and she found a light switch. The room was dark. “Are you sure we’re allowed to just come in here?”

  He nodded. “I talked to Wade about it when I first got here, and he said this was for anyone to use.” He could have taken her back to his place, but he didn’t think it was right for a pastor to have a woman in his house if no one else was there. He tried to live by a strict moral code, so no one could come to any erroneous conclusions. Besides, he still felt awfully hormonal around her, and he didn’t want anything to inadvertently happen.

  He put the pizza down, along with the bag in his other hand filled with plates, napkins, forks, and the baked goods she’d bought earlier, while she went to work looking through all the titles in the library. The walls were filled with shelves. The shelves seemed to be equally divided between movies and books. It took her just a moment to locate both movies, because they were alphabetical.

  She popped the first in, and sat down, picking up the remote. “I’m saving the best for last, so we’ll start with Beauty and the Beast. It’s a good movie, but it’s not Cinderella.”

  He sat down beside her, taking the pizza box out of the carrier and serving them each a piece. “You didn’t say what you like on pizza, so I went with a basic cheeseburger pizza. I would think anyone would love that.” He pulled a couple of bottles of water from the bag, and handed her one, twisting the top off his and taking a swig.

  The opening credits came on the screen, and Bridget’s whole face lit up. It was as if she was seeing the movie for the first time. He wanted to laugh at her, but how could he? She was adorable in her love for Disney.

  By the time Beauty and the Beast was done, she was nestled up close to him, and his arm was around her shoulders. He liked it. Maybe too much, but he sure wasn’t going to complain. As the closing credits played on the television, she swiped at the tears in her eyes. “See? It’s a good movie, but there’s something so perfect about Cinderella. Belle makes me a little bit crazy. She’s kind of a know-it-all.”

  He hadn’t gotten that from the movie, but that was fine with him. If she wanted to think of Belle as a know-it-all, more power to her. “I liked it. I think I’ve seen it before, because some of the songs were familiar, but I’m really not sure.”

  Bridget shook her head at him. “Your education is so lacking. My heart aches for you.” She jumped up, swapping out the DVDs. “Now, for the best movie of the evening.” She sat down and snuggled close to him again. His arm came around her shoulders, and she settled her head against him. Never had a man made her feel so…protected as Kevin did.

  She sighed. It could never last. He was a pastor who lived in Idaho, and she was a nurse from Texas. How could anyone think it might last?

  Kevin stroked his hand up and down her arm. Her delicate bone structure brought out his protectiveness. She was special, and he was going to keep her. How could he not?

  “You’ll see right away that Cinderella is better. She communes with the animals and not just the household items!”

  He forced his attention back to the television with real effort. He wanted to stare at her, not Cinderella.

  As she had with the first movie, she sang along with all the songs—loudly and off-key. She seemed to genuinely enjoy singing, and he didn’t mind. He was mostly tone-deaf anyway. Her voice wasn’t bad, but she couldn’t seem to hit a note for anything. In between songs, they shared the two desserts she’d chosen at the bakery, each of them using one of her tiny shrimp forks.

  When the movie was over, she shut the television off with the remote in her hand, turning to him and tucking her legs under her on the couch. “I’m glad you didn’t complain about my singing. I know I’m not good, but I make up for my lack of skills with sheer volume.”

  “You do!” He grinned at her, his hand stroking her cheek.

  “Well? Have you made up your mind yet?”

  He frowned. “Do I have to decide tonight? Both women have a lot going for them. Cindy was great with the animals, just like you said, but did you see Belle stick up for the Beast? The whole town was ready to kill him, and she not only didn’t buckle under peer pressure, but she did everything she could to save him.” He shook his head. “I’m just not sure I can make that kind of decision on such short notice.”

  Bridget rolled her eyes. “You know Cindy is better!”

  “I know no such thing. I’m going to have to think on it. Analyze both storylines, and think about the songs that were sung by each of them. Belle’s songs were a bit better.” Not that he’d heard them over her caterwauling, but it was better to hold out and make her wait for his answer. He was sure she’d continue to see him until she got it.

  She glared at him for a moment. “You’re really going to make me wait to hear which your favorite is? Are you kidding me?”

  He shook his head. “I’m sure I’ll have made a decision before it’s time for you to go home to Texas.”

  She frowned, her eyes meeting his. “I already hate the idea of going home. This place—it grows on you. I want to stay here forever.”

  “Apply for the nursing job. I sure wouldn’t complain!”

  She sighed. “I have to think about it. I’ve never lived outside of Texas. I’d be leaving my home and everything I know. My parents. My best friend.”

  “You would. But your sister is here. The ranch is here, and you can’t deny how wonderful this ranch is. And…not to elevate myself in your eyes, but I’m here. I want you to stay, Bridget.”

  She frowned. “I’ll think about it while you think about which princess you like better. You know it really does matter to me which one you choose. What if we’re not compatible?”

  “I don’t think Disney movies are the most important things in compatibility.”

  “Oh, you don’t? What is the most important thing?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know. Feelings about faith and God. Kissing.”

  She let out a short bark of laughter. “Kissing, huh?”

  He nodded emphatically. “How will we know if we’re meant to be together if we don’t have chemistry? No, I think kissing will tell us a whole lot about whether or not we are compatible.”

  “Oh, yeah?”

  He nodded. “So, how about it? Wanna see if we’re compatible?”

  She tilted her head to one side with her lips pursed. “I don’t know. When you kiss a pastor, are you then required to marry him so you won’t sully his name and make him look like he’s easy?”

  He laughed. “Nope. But if you touch any bare skin that should be under clothes it does. So you can’t even touch my bare back, because that belongs under my clothes, you see.” He was amazed at how easily he could banter with this woman. Always he’d been tongue-tied around girls, and way too serious. Suddenly he felt like that was gone, and he could have fun.

  “I’ll be sure to keep my hands on the outside of your shirt then.”